Writing on a Friday Night? I bet Thomas Paine did it!

Hey! Its not like its schoolwork! PLUS, I'm about a week late getting my Lewes dally and photos up...

Ok, ok you caught me. NO social life. Sad sad me.

Anyways Lewes, spelled to sound like loos (teehee) actually pronound louis, is about 10 minutes away from school. Well at least as far as the bus is concerned its that. I think it would be East of us, but I really have no idea what direction is what anymore.

Once again I digress. Alex and I took the bus in last week. After choosing to get off at the second stop (the 1st one was the jail), we were left in a very quaint, straight out of The Holiday, countryside town. Narrow winding cobblestone roads, corner bookshops, even a castle! After perusing one of the local churches complete with graveyard -- hey, its morbid I know, but they are so interesting -- we decided it was time to eat. And get a pint. We wander deeper into town and stumble across the White Hart Hotel & Restaurant. Nothing special on the outside except a little gold plaque, which at this point makes it the 20th one we've seen. But being the tourists, or maybe its nosy Americans?, we are we stop to read it. Low and behold it is stating that Thomas Paine used to live in Lewes and worked in this very hotel, before it was a hotel of course. Now quick history lesson -- Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense which was very influential during the Revolutionary War and helped writers pen the Declaration of Independence. He also later wrote The Rights of Man (influential during the Frency Rev. War). So now, we are EXCITED about this place. We head in and it is soooo old and cool! After ordering Fisherman's Pie (salmon and cod w/ mashed potatoes and cheeses served w/carrots, yams, and leeks--best dish I've had since I got here!) and a pint of the amazing Harvey's Old Ale the bartender tells us that the front part of the building is almost 500 years old and that they have one of the original copies of the Declaration of Independence in a conference room upstairs!!! So then of course he asks, before we have to, if we'd like to go see it. HECK YES! So we got to see it, and take pictures. Neener neener neener. Seriously though, it was so cool!

After we leave White Hart we head "down the hill and over the bridge", as the bartender told us to, to Harvey's Brewery. Finally we had found a local brewery. We walk into the shop where there are souvenirs and bottles of all their special beers they brew throughout different parts of the year. After talking to the guys there for a little bit we end up getting taken to the back room for a tasting of their current beers. Super cool! The guy, Robert, was telling us about the beer they brew just for November called Bonfire Boy and that it unfortunately wasn't ready for us to try quite yet. The beer commemorates November 5th. Guy Fawke's Day, England celebrates it every year as the day that Guy Fawke's plans to blow up parliament in the 1600s were foiled. There are fireworks and bonfires ALL over England the weekend closest to the 5th. Kinda like their very own 4th of July! And according to Robert, Lewes has one of the biggest festivals around and its actually on the 5th. They debut this years batch of Bonfire Boy at the Brewery, there are 2 or 3 bonfire parades, and of course actual bonfires and fireworks. Awesome. Needless to say, I'm sure you all know where I will be on the 5th.

So that's about all for now. Photos are up. Going to pretend I have a life again. Cheers!